STRIVE to Control Ebola

The Sierra Leone Trial to Introduce a Vaccine Against Ebola (STRIVE) has started recruiting volunteers to test for the effectiveness of the vaccine. About 6,000 healthcare and other frontline workers will be enrolled in STRIVE to receive the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, which uses the vesicular stomatitis virus to carry a non-infectious Zaire ebola virus gene, hopefully inducing an immune response from the recipients.

This trial is being conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in partnership with the Sierra Leone College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences and the Ministry of Health and Sanitation.

Only time shall tell whether this vaccine is the long awaited preventive tool we have been asking for against the killer virus.

Skeptic Oslerphile, Scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases. Interests include: Emerging Infections, Public Health, Antimicrobial Resistance, One Health and Zoonoses, Diarrheal Diseases, Medical Education, Medical History, Open Access, Healthcare Social Media and Health2.0. Opinions are my own!